Entries in Frank Miller
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With #Daredevil debuting on Netflix over the weekend, I’ve been on a nostalgia trip reading the Frank Miller DD comics I grew up with. (The digital comic book app, ComiXology, has been dangerous to my account and my iPad storage capability. It's just too easy to buy those old comics with just a click!)

I’m not absolutely certain, but pretty positive that this is the first Daredevil comic book I ever read, issue No. 167 — published in 1980. Daredevil fighting The Mauler, a guy in a battle suit of armor, isn’t really the type of story the character is most known for, but it certainly pulled me in.

Miller’s art, depicting Daredevil’s acrobatic style of martial arts and ability to get some slick ricochets by throwing his billy club, was apparently all I needed. I think I was also intrigued by the idea of an old man stealing a Iron Man-type suit to get revenge on his employer. Even as a kid, I was anti-management!

If I recall correctly, this issue also had a bonus feature which showed how Matt Murdock's brownstone apartment was converted for his superhero identity, with hidden training rooms, storage for his gear and secret exits to get out and fight crime. In addition, there was a diagram showing how Daredevil's billy club (with grappling hook!) worked, going from a blind man's cane to hoodlum-beating weapon.

I’m also pretty sure my mother bought this for me, as she would often buy comic books from the drugstore for me on the way home from work. Maybe we should look into the fact she bought one with the hero being choked on its cover. Did she realize she was beginning a near-lifelong interest in Daredevil and Frank Miller with an impulse purchase?

(I remember buying the next issue, No. 168, which turned out to be extremely valuable, since it was the debut of Elektra, one of the most important characters in Daredevil mythology. But even if I'd kept that comic book and not lost it or traded it away, it wouldn't have been in any sort of shape to be worth something. I beat the hell out of my old comic books.)